Examine the facts first
Posted on March 27, 2007 - Filed Under Punch Forum |
Godofredo Sison
27 Mar 2007
It is unfair to blame every problem of Philippine society on the present administration. Take for example the extra- judicial killings of mediamen and political activists. Yes, the administration is definitely liable to solve and prevent these killings, and yes they have failed miserably at it. But to say that it is the administration that ordered these killings is unfair and biased.
President GMA and her administration are already taking a beating regarding this issue. These killings do nothing to improve GMA's ratings. Why would the President and the current administration order these killings when in fact it would do more harm than good for them? Yes, they will eliminate their enemies by killing them one by one. But for every anti-Arroyo person killed, there will be thousands more to follow. So what good is it for the administration to kill all these people?
Outside pressure is mounting. The US, EU, and the United Nations. If GMA had a hand in these killings, wouldn't she stop by now instead of risking being tried in an international tribunal like Saddam? And by stopping the killings (if she was responsible for them in the first place) she would get all the credit for being able to solve these crimes and she would even prevent another uprising by the people. Wouldn't that be the most logical thing to do?
Before we blame GMA for everything, let us first examine the issue thoroughly. These killings could be the work of ultra leftist groups in a bid to destabilize and overthrow the government. Of course, by killing the anti-administration people, the first one to be blamed will be GMA and her administration. Why would GMA even give the order to eliminate tabloid writers who are virtually unknown? She would not waste her time on that. If she truly wanted to eliminate all opposition, she is better off killing the likes of Allan Peter Cayetano, Gringo Honasan, Satur Ocampo, Jojo Binay, etc. Of course these people are harder to kill, but being President would make it a lot easier.
On the other side, we can blame the administration for a number of things. One would be the slow and unsuccessful investigations regarding these killings. This is definitely under the administration's responsibility. These crimes must be solved soon and those responsible must be sent behind bars. Also, the administration should step up on its efforts to prevent these things from happening. These are things we can definitely blame the administration for.
Now with all due respect to Archbishop Cruz, I believe it is not proper to blame these killings on the administration alone, as if it was GMA and company that ordered these killings. You wrote in your column that "the present administration even managed to achieve excellence in extrajudicial killings." I might have misinterpreted your statement (my apologies if I did) but it comes off as if GMA's administration is solely to blame for these killings.
I will not argue that it is the administration's responsibility to stop and solve these crimes. I will not argue that they are failing miserably. But neither will I blame the administration for it, not without having concrete evidence.
Before we go on pointing fingers, let us examine all the facts. Without concrete evidence, we cannot just blame anyone at our convenience. The moral for all of us is as simple as the 8th commandment- Do not bear false witness against your neighbor.
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